Down syndrome

Wednesday, Sep. 3, 2014 • 1 p.m.

Since 2013, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund has been supporting research by the distinguished neuroscientist and Down syndrome (DS) expert William Mobley, M.D., Ph.D., whose lab is based at the University of California, San Diego. Mobley is part of a team working to exploit a hypothesis that inhibiting a protein called monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL)—which gets overproduced in people with Down syndrome—will, in turn, reduce the production of Abeta and, subsequently, Alzheimer’s neuropathology.

Born in landlocked Nebraska, William Mobley discovered the wonders of research when he first studied a sea cucumber’s hemoglobin. Now a prominent academic neurologist and the newest member of Cure Alzheimer’s Fund’s Scientific Advisory Board, Mobley’s passion for science and for living life never has waned.

The world already is very familiar with both Alzheimer’s disease (AD), primarily a disease that occurs in the elderly, and Down syndrome (DS), a genetic condition present at birth. What many don’t realize is that these two conditions also overlap. By age 40, nearly all people born with Down syndrome have begun accruing the plaque and tangle hallmarks of Alzheimer’s. By age 60, most exhibit signs of dementia.

SAN DIEGO, July 16, 2013 – Confirming an enzyme in the serine hyrdrolase family as a therapeutic target to slow and potentially reverse the effects of Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease is the goal of new research announced today by Abide Therapeutics, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and funded by a grant from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.